Indigenous Bolivians flash new wealth with colorful mansions

Yahoo – AFP, Raul Burgoa, 31 March 2015

A crop of new mansions springing up in in El Alto, a poor suburb perched above 

Bolivia's capital La Paz, have become an icon of the new found wealth -- and 

opulence -- of the indigenous Aymara community (AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes)

La Paz (AFP) - Splashed in bright colors, sporting swank ballrooms and lavish apartments, new mansions are popping up in poor neighborhoods in the Bolivian highlands, built by the booming nouveau riche of the indigenous Aymara.

Locals call them "cholets," a blend of chalet and "cholo," a sometimes derogatory word for Bolivians of indigenous origin.

But their growing prevalence is a sign of the changing times in Bolivia, where indigenous people have gone from being a silent majority long marginalized from the worlds of politics and business -- to major players on the national scene.

Luxurious new mansions built in Bolivia's 

so-called "Cholet" style -- a combination of

 the words cholo and chalet -- typically have 

six or seven floors with shopping centres,

 indoor astroturf pitches crowned by a luxury

penthouse (AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes)

The cholets have sprung up in tandem with an economic boom presided over by Evo Morales, who took office as Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2006. He swore in for a new term in January after presiding over average economic growth of more than five percent a year during his first two terms.

During Morales's presidency, increasing numbers of his fellow Aymara have accumulated fortunes in industries such as mining, retail and transport that they are now using to build sumptuous mansions that are reshaping the country's architecture.

Their fluorescent-colored walls tower for up to seven stories at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) in the city of El Alto, a poor suburb perched above the capital La Paz.

"If I were rich, I'd want to live somewhere warmer, but this is where they made their fortunes and this is where they are from," said Serge Ducroc, a Swiss social worker who lives in Bolivia and has been giving guided cholet tours to foreign visitors for the past two years.

"They're not going to go live in a neighborhood full of white people. Their success was built here, and this is where they show it," he said, chewing on coca leaves to combat the effects of the high altitude.

Cholets are typically mixed-use buildings with a blend of commercial properties on the lower floors -- shopping malls, indoor sports facilities, ballrooms and the like -- crowned by a luxury penthouse for the owner.

Built in a new architectural style that has been dubbed "neo-Andean baroque," they cost up to $1 million.

"Besides being clients, (the owners) are promoters of this new architecture," said Freddy Mamani Silvestre, the Aymara architect behind the cholet boom.

Freddy Mamani Silvestre, the architect behind the boom in Bolivia's "cholet"

 mansions, says their rainbow palette is a way for newly successful Aymara

to "search for our essence, our own culture" (AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes)

'Buildings must have life'

Mamani, 42, grew up herding llamas with his five siblings in the small farming village of Catavi, where he would build mud birdhouses in the hills.

That creativity today drives what he proudly calls an "architectural revolution that transcends borders."

"I've broken the old architectural canon, and yes, I'm a transgressor," said the architect, who does not like the word "cholet" to describe his work.

Like the rainbow Aymara flag itself, the buildings are an explosion of colors, many with two-story ballrooms that look like indigenous-themed Las Vegas casinos.

"They're a polychromatic color gradient. We try to search for our essence, our own culture by applying vibrant colors," Mamani told AFP.

The ballrooms can hold up to 1,000 guests and charge up to $1,500 to host events.

"In Andean culture, we say that everything has life," said Mamani.

"Our buildings must also have life. What does that mean? It means they have to generate income."

Many "cholet" mansions feature commercial properties, including two-storey 

ballrooms resembling indigenous-themed Las Vegas casinos that can hold

1,000 guests and rent for $1,500 a night (AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes)

Bolivian philosopher Boris Bernal evoked the same idea.

"The Uta (house in Aymara) can't be static or dead. It has to have life, dance, move among the community, serve its people, generating interest and accumulating capital for the whole community," he said.

But outside the cholets, El Alto remains largely poor.

Of its nearly one million inhabitants, roughly half live in poverty.

"We heard that El Alto was basically rich," said one visitor on the cholet tour, 28-year-old Canadian teacher Dominick Fortugno.

"But when we arrived, we saw tremendous wealth in the middle of poverty and people begging. It's powerful to see."

Colombia Transforms Old Tires Into Green Housing

Jakarta Globe, Paula Carrillo, Mar 31, 2015

View of houses made with tires in Choachi, Cundinamarca, Colombia on March 16,
 2015. In the same way as igloos, thermally efficient and resistant to quakes,
a particular kind of house in central Colombia takes advantage of a material which
 is thrown away: tires. 5.3 million tires are thrown away each year in Colombia, and
since they take millions of years in decomposing, using them for building becomes
a potential. (AFP Photo/Eitan Abramovich)

Choachí, Colombia. The highlands around the Colombian capital are scattered with small buildings that look like out-of-place igloos but are in fact innovative houses made from the tires that litter the country’s roads.

The woman behind the project is Alexandra Posada, a 35-year-old environmental activist who sports a cowboy hat and jeans while she works, her buff biceps rippling in her tank top as she slings around old tires and shovels them full of dirt.

“I get these tires for free because it’s a huge problem for people to get rid of them,” she told AFP.

“They take thousands of years to decompose — which we’ve transformed from a problem into an opportunity,” she said. “If you use them as construction materials, they become virtually eternal bricks.”

Posada is currently at work on several houses in the mountains of Choachi, a city of about 15,000 people an hour’s drive east of Bogota.

She and her team take truckfuls of old tires and fill them with earth, turning them into massive bricks that weigh 200 to 300 kilograms each.

Using a range of tires from semi trucks to cars, they stack them together around iron bars to create round structures that are at once solid and flexible — well insulated against the heat and cold, but also rubbery enough to withstand the earthquakes common in this seismically active Andes region.

The houses have rounded cement-and-steel ceilings over the bedrooms and kitchen, and flat wood-plank ceilings over the living room and dining room.

Both are covered by another layer of tires, making “an almost non-degradable, impermeable” roof, said Posada.

The houses may be made from waste, but they have a captivating beauty.

The sweeping curves of the roofs are often painted in bright colors.

The walls are covered with tan mortar made of lime and sand, giving them a smooth adobe look interrupted by flashes of color from old glass bottles inserted in the masonry.

Posada also uses glass bottles to make skylights in the bedrooms, inserting them vertically in the concrete ceilings to create a pixelated stained-glass effect.

“These houses are made with reused materials, but they’re also beautiful, airy, with more indirect light,” she said.

Millions of tires

It is an ingenious solution to a tricky problem.

Colombians throw out more than 5.3 million tires a year, according to official figures — nearly 100,000 metric tons of rubber that pollute the environment.

They often end up abandoned in unsightly piles along the country’s roads, or are burned to get rid of them, adding their acrid smell to the clouds of car exhaust that often choke Bogota, a sprawling city of more than seven million people.

“It’s a huge problem in terms of the public space, the environment and the landscape,” said Francisco Gomez, who heads the environment ministry’s response to the issue.

Tire manufacturers and importers in Colombia are only required to recycle about 35 percent of the country’s total consumption.

And sanitation workers are not responsible for removing abandoned tires because they are considered “special waste.”

“The response we’ve been able to implement is pretty small in terms of the quantity of waste being generated,” said Gomez.

Posada has so far used about 9,000 old tires to make the walls, roofs, terraces and steps of her rubber “igloos.”

One of her workers, William Clavijo, a 57-year-old mason, said the job has taught him a lesson in “valuing things.”

“People usually just throw this stuff away. Now you see that it can be put to good use,” he said as he slapped layers of mortar across a wall of tires, hiding its past as rubbery waste abandoned on the streets of Bogota.

Agence France-Presse

'Another tragedy': Rescued Chile miner loses home in floods

Yahoo – AFP, 28 March 2015

A picture released by Chile's presidential press office shows

miner Victor Zamora speaking with President Sebastian 

Pinera as he is taken to the field hospital near Copiapo on 

October 13, 2010 (AFP Photo/José Manuel de la Maza)

Santiago (AFP) - One of the Chilean miners who captured worldwide attention in 2010 after spending more than two months in a collapsed mine has lost everything after torrential rains struck northern Chile.

Victor Zamora is one of 33 men who were thrust into the international spotlight when they became trapped deep underground after a collapse at the San Jose copper mine in the Atacama desert.

Zamora's house was washed away early Tuesday along with most other structures in his small mining village, located near the town of Copiapo, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Santiago.

"This is another tragedy, we have lost everything," Zamora told AFP, speaking from the town of Tierra Amarilla.

The rare floods in the normally parched region have left at least 10 dead, 19 missing and hundreds of people homeless.

The interior ministry has declared a state of emergency and invoked a constitutional clause transferring power from the regional government to the military.

Zamora said the waters came at around 3:00 am when everyone was asleep. He was only able to get away with the few items he had with him.

An aerial view of areas affected by the flood in the region of Copiapo, Chile

on March 26, 2015 (AFP Photo)

"We've got nothing left. But me and my neighbors are trying to help each other," said Zamora, who in October 2010 was the 14th miner to be pulled safely to the surface after spending 69 days trapped deep underground.

Since the dramatic rescue, Zamora has never been able to find a permanent job and now lives on a small government pension.

Zamora and his colleagues were trapped on August 5, 2010 when a cave-in left them stranded and despairing deep down inside the remote copper mine.

During the next 17 days, the men waited in a shelter in the dark, dank tunnel, resigning themselves to what looked like a slow death.

On August 22, a probe drill hauled up to the surface had a note attached to it from the miners: "We're all well, all 33 in the shelter."

A Herculean operation was then started, with water, food and medicine dropped to the men.

Related Articles:

Death toll in Chile floods rises to 18 - New

Chilean prosecutors drop charges over 2010 mine collapse

US-Cuba talks on human rights Tuesday in Washington: Havana

Yahoo – AFP,  Alexandre Grosbois, 26 March 2015

Delegations from the United States and Cuba meet for closed-door talks at the
Convention Palace in Havana, on January 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Adalberto Roque)

Havana (AFP) - The United States and Cuba will hold talks on human rights, one of the most delicate issues pending in their historic rapprochement, on Tuesday in Washington, Havana said.

The "bilateral dialogue on human rights... demonstrates Cuba's readiness to address any issue despite our differences," the deputy director of the Cuban foreign ministry, Pedro Luis Pedroso Cuesta, told journalists Thursday.

The communist island nation had proposed the meeting, he said.

Cuba, he said, "hopes this dialogue will unfold in a constructive tone, on the basis of reciprocity, without conditions or discriminatory treatment and in full respect of sovereignty, independence and non-interference in the countries' internal affairs."

The talks will include "the concerns we have about human rights in the United States and other areas."

"We are aware that we have profound differences with the government of the United States in the areas of political systems, democracy and human rights, and international law," he said.

Since President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro announced on December 17 that their countries would resume relations after more than five decades of enmity, the two sides have held three rounds of talks.

But they have not yet broached the sensitive issue of human rights, an area where Washington has called for sweeping reforms from the communist island.

Cuba counters that the United States' own record on human rights is lacking, pointing especially to the prison at Guantanamo Bay set up to hold terror suspects in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

After the countries' first round of talks in January, when the US delegation voiced concern over the lack of freedom of expression and assembly in Cuba, the Cuban delegation responded that the United States bore the stains of police brutality and rampant inequality, as well as the torture and indefinite detention of Guantanamo inmates.

The Obama administration is under pressure to make a breakthrough with Havana on human rights, after coming under fire from Republican lawmakers and many in the Cuban exile community for moving to restore ties without extracting any concessions from the communist government on increased political freedoms.

The talks have so far focused on reestablishing diplomatic relations and reopening embassies, which Obama is keen to see happen before the Summit of the Americas in Panama on April 10 and 11.

Cuba has insisted it first be removed from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terror.

The two sides also have to iron out a number of other issues, such as compensation for American property nationalized after the Cuban Revolution, freedom of movement for diplomats and the embargo the United States has imposed on Cuba since 1962, which Obama would need the blessing of the Republican-controlled Congress to lift.

Relations have also been strained by tensions over Venezuela, a key Cuban ally.

Earlier this month, Havana leapt to defend Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government after Obama imposed new sanctions on top officials accused of rights abuses and an opposition crackdown.

US lifts sanctions on shippers, traders doing business with Cuba

Yahoo – AFP, 24 March 2015

The United States removed sanctions on nearly five dozen shipping

 companies, trading firms and individuals that had been blacklisted for

 links to Cuba (AFP Photo/Donald Miralle)

Washington (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday removed sanctions on nearly five dozen shipping companies, trading firms and individuals that had been blacklisted for links to Cuba.

The sweeping delisting came as Washington and Havana progress in negotiations to restore diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of hostility.

Barbados plans to replace Queen with ceremonial president

Freundel Stuart, the prime minister, tells colleagues that island nation will have its own head of state by 50th anniversary of independence in 2016

The Guardian, Caroline Davies, Monday 23 March 2015

The Queen and Prince Philip driving through Barbados waving to the
crowds on their 1966 tour.

It has long been independent from Britain, but the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados looks set to sever links with the Queen, drawing up plans to replace her as head of state with a president.

Freundel Stuart, the prime minister, told supporters of the ruling Democratic Labour party (DLP) that the island was functioning as a republic, according to theJamaica Observer.

“We respect (the Queen) very highly as head of the Commonwealth and accept that she and all of her successors will continue to be at the apex of our political understanding. But, in terms of Barbados’s constitutional status, we have to move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future,” Stuart said.

George Pilgrim, general secretary of the DLP, confirmed the development and said the change was expected to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Barbados’s independence in 2016.

A draft bill will have to be put before parliament.

Pilgrim said: “We don’t expect any opposition coming from the opposition party.

“This will move the country through to the next major step in the process of nationhood.”

He added that Barbados would remain part of the Commonwealth, of which the Queen is head, thus retaining some links with the crown.

It is not the first time Barbados has considered becoming a republic. In 2005, Owen Arthur, then prime minister, outlined his proposals for dropping the Queen in favour of a locally elected president, but the process was not completed.

The same year, the Caribbean court of justice became Barbados’s final court of appeal, instead of the London-based privy council, which has long served as the highest court of appeal for many former British colonies.

The island became independent from Britain in 1966.

The Queen’s Royal style and title in Barbados is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Barbados and of Her other Realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth. She is represented through the largely ceremonial role of the governor general.

The monarch has made five official visits to the island, including in 1977 when she left by Concorde on her first supersonic flight. In 1989, she visited to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Barbados parliament.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “It is a matter for the government and people of Barbados.” Downing Street appeared to be unaware of the decision, which was announced on Sunday night.

A spokesman for David Cameron, the prime minister, said: “I expect the approach will be consistent with self-determination, decisions around this being a matter for the people involved.”

Portia Simpson Miller, prime minister of Jamaica, pledged in 2012 to replace the Queen as head of state.

The Queen is sovereign of 15 Commonwealth realms in addition to the UK.

Related Article:

Fiji to remove union jack from flag, says PM Bainimarama

Germany's Bilfinger announces probe into possible Brazil 2014 World Cup bribes

German construction company Bilfinger says it is investigating claims employees in Brazil paid bribes to officials in connection with orders to supply security centers to Brazilian host cities for the 2014 World Cup.

Deutsche Welle, 22 March 2015

In a statement released on Sunday on Bilfinger SE's website, the company said it had launched a "comprehensive investigation" into an outside auditor and a law firm's involvement in "suspected bribery payments from employees of a Bilfinger company in Brazil to public officials and employees of state companies."

The allegations relate to orders to equip security command centers at 12 host cities during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The company said the probe, involving auditors Ernst & Young and Deloitte, plus a specialized law firm in Brazil, showed that "suspicions have now been substantiated," although the investigation has not yet been completed, such as how much was paid to each player.

The construction company is accused of paying bribes to secure a contract worth more than 20 million euros ($21.6 million) for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil through its subsidiary Mauell, reported German tabloid Bild am Sonntag on Sunday.

The newspaper reported that illegal payments went to local Brazilian politicians and officials from world football's governing body, FIFA.

FIFA dismissed the allegations on Sunday, saying it had no influence on the project, and refuted claims its staff were bribed.

"Traffic control and security centers in the 12 FIFA 2014 World Cup venues was the responsibility of local governments. Neither FIFA, nor their employees, were involved in the awarding of contracts for host cities or the federal government," it said in a statement.

Bilfinger announced on Sunday that it received internal communication last year and immediately started an investigation into the corruption allegations by Bilfinger in Brazil.

"The company and its supervisory board have an interest in ensuring this is cleared up," the group's supervisory board chairman Eckhard Cordes told Bild.

"If the allegations are proven, we will take action with regard to personnel and will initiate legal steps," an unnamed company spokesperson said.

At the 12 host city venues for the 2014 World Cup, Bifinger had over 1,500 security monitor walls and the appropriate software needed to run the security command centers for police, fire and emergency services.

jlw/msh (Reuters, dpa, AP)

São Paulo breastfeeding law would fine those who try to stop nursing mothers

Legislation in the Brazilian city – which officials believe to be the first of its kind – was approved last week and is expected to be signed into effect in next 20 days

The Guardian, Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro, Thursday 19 March 2015

More than 1,000 mothers breastfeed their babies during the National Meeting
of Breastfeeding in Santos, Brazil, in 2010. Photograph: Getty Images

Latin America’s largest city is poised to pass legislation that would levy a £100 fine on any business or organisation that prevents women from breastfeeding in public. 

The ordinance in São Paulo – which local officials believe to be the first of its kind in the world – follows street protests in recent years by lactating mothers who feel marginalised by prejudice even though the benefits of breastfeeding are recognised by the World Health Organisation and promoted by the national government.

The regulation was approved by the São Paulo municipal government last week and is expected to be signed into effect by Mayor Fernando Haddad within the next 20 days.

Concern about prejudice towards nursing mothers has been brought into the national spotlight by a series of incidents involving women being reprimanded by officials for “embarrassing” bystanders, or being called a “slut” by observers.

The highest profile occurred last year, when model Priscila Navarro Bueno was scolded by a security guard for breastfeeding her seven-month-old daughter during a David Bowie exhibition at the Museum of Image and Sound in Sao Paulo

“Unfortunately society is still very puritanical. During Carnival women can show their breasts, but it is not permitted to do so to give milk to your child. It is absurd that woman have to breastfeed in a hidden room,” Navarro Bueno said at the time.

In protest at such displays of intolerance, nursing mothers have organised three annual “Mamaço Time” protests. Last year, about 40 mothers breastfeed their babies on Avenida Paulista – the city’s main thoroughfare – and chanted “Breastfeeding is my right.”

Simone de Carvalho, representative of the Breastfeeding Solidarity movement, told local media that it was important for society to fight against prejudice towards breastfeeding, which was the “gold standard” of nutrition recognised by the World Health Organisation.

The Museum of Image and Sound has subsequently issued an apology and said staff have been informed that women are nurse their children in public at the facility.

If the mayor signs the new ordinance into effect, this could become policy at all institutions and companies in the city.

Those who violate the regulation will be fined 500 Rs (£103). One of the city councilors who first proposed the bill in 2013 said the amount was symbolic, but would support national health policies which have encouraged breastfeeding since the 1980s.

“We created this measure not only because of the fine, but to make people realise it is forbidden to veto (breastfeeding),” said Aurelio Nomura. “We understand that prejudices must be broken.”

A new long-term study in Brazil has shown that breastfed babies are more likely to turn into intelligent, highly-educated and well-paid adults.

Bloomberg and Gates launch legal fund to help countries fight big tobacco

Philanthropists donate initial $4m towards legal advice for nations whose health measures are challenged by tobacco industry, as in Uruguay and Australia

The Guardian, Sarah Boseley Health editor, Wednesday 18 March 2015

The tobacco industry has invoked trade agreements in Uruguay against
graphic health warnings and in Australia against ‘plain’ packs.
Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

A $4m (£2.7m) fighting fund to help governments around the world in legal battles against the tobacco industry has been announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies, seeking to assist countries which are making slow progress curbing smoking.

While smoking is becoming a marginalised pastime in more affluent countries where laws on smoking in public places are in force, there is concern about the tobacco industry push-back that involves legal challenges to new measures such as plain packaging.

The fund, to which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also contributing, will give countries the technical support of legal experts to draw up legislation as well as defend court actions brought by tobacco companies. It is expected to grow as other donors join in. Australia and Uruguay are two of the countries where public health measures have been challenged by industry.

At the 16th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi, Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, also pointed to the danger.

“In an ominous trend, in some countries the battle between tobacco and health has moved into the courts,” she said. “Governments wishing to protect their citizens through larger pictorial warnings on cigarette packs or by introducing plain packaging are being intimidated by industry’s threats of lengthy and costly litigation. This is an effort to deprive governments of their sovereign right to legislate in the public interest. We will push back hard.”

Smoking killed 10 million people in the last century and is predicted to cause 1 billion deaths this century. A global report launched at the conference found there were 3.9 billion smokers aged 15 and over in WHO member states in 2010. By 2025, that number is predicted to grow to 5 billion if the present pace of tobacco control continues. Experts say the global target – to cut smoking worldwide by 30% from 2010 levels by 2025 – will not be reached if more action is not taken. Smoking rates have fallen for both men and women in most countries, but only 37 nations are on course to meet the target.

The tobacco industry has invoked trade agreements to counter anti-smoking measures – in Uruguay against graphic health warnings on packaging and in Australia against “plain” or unremarkable standardised packs.

“We are at a critical moment in the global effort to reduce tobacco use, because the significant gains we have seen are at risk of being undermined by the tobacco industry’s use of trade agreements and litigation,” said Michael R Bloomberg. “We will stand with nations as they work to protect their populations against the deadly health effects of tobacco use.”

“Country leaders who are trying to protect their citizens from the harms of tobacco should not be deterred by threats of costly legal challenges from huge tobacco companies,” said Bill Gates. “Australia won its first case, which sends a strong message. But smaller, developing countries don’t have the same resources. That’s why we are supporting the Anti-Tobacco Trade Litigation Fund with Bloomberg Philanthropies.”

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”

Hidden paths could be behind Antarctic glacier melt: study

Yahoo - AFP, 17 March 2015

The Totten Glacier, the most rapidly thinning glacier in East Antarctica, is

shown in this image from yhe Australian government's Antarctic Division 

taken in March 2015 (AFP Photo)

Sydney (AFP) - Scientists have discovered two pathways that are likely channelling warm ocean water under a massive Antarctic glacier, which could contribute to rising global sea levels, a study revealed Tuesday.

The 120-kilometre (75 miles) long Totten Glacier, more than 30 kilometres wide, is the largest in East Antarctica and melting more quickly than others in the area.

Research published in the journal Nature Geoscience showed that a trough just under five kilometres wide has formed as a gateway deep underneath the glacier, along with another tunnel.

These could allow warmer sea water to penetrate the glacier base, the researchers said.

"The Totten Glacier is the most rapidly thinning glacier in East Antarctica and this melt has the potential to drive substantial regional ice loss," Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Jason Roberts said.

"The study identifies direct pathways for warm ocean water to reach under the glacier; a likely reason for the observed thinning."

During a voyage to the frozen region during the past southern hemisphere summer, researchers found the waters around Totten Glacier were around 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than other areas.

The icebreaker Auroira Australis at the edge of the Totten Glacier, the most

 rapidly thinning glacier in East Antarctica is shown in this March 17, 2015 

image from the Australian Antarctic Division (AFP Photo)

Up until recently the East Antarctica ice sheet was thought to be surrounded by cold waters and therefore very stable and unlikely to change much.

The Australian Antarctic Division said there was enough ice in the Totten Glacier alone to raise global sea levels by at least 3.5 metres, roughly equivalent to the projected contribution of the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet, if it were to completely collapse.

"While the Totten melt may take many centuries, once change has begun our analysis reveals it would likely be irreversible," said lead author of the study Jamin Greenbaum, a PhD student at the University of Texas.

The study, which included researchers from Australia, Britain and the United States, used aerial surveys from Australia's Casey station to detect the deep trenches.

Aircraft equipped with radar, laser and other sensors for determining ice thickness and mapping the bedrock and seafloor bathymetry flew over the glacier over five summers from 2008 to 2013.

"The findings from this study present a strong case for using aerial surveys in other parts of Antarctica, including the virtually unknown Antarctic inner continental shelf," said Australian Antarctic Division programme leader Tas van Ommen.

Related Articles:

New Antarctic sea ice record — but scientists aren’t ‘confounded’

"The Weather" - Mar 1, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

"Around the Horn" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“… Now, in the process of all of this, there's going to be renewed interest in Antarctica, and you're going to find some interesting things about the land under the ice. The topography of the land under the ice does not match the topography of the ice above. Some astonishing shapes will be revealed when you map the actual land under the ice. Points of mountains are going to be revealed, giving an entire different idea of what Antarctica might have been and what its purpose really is. The continent that is uninhabitable by Human Beings may very well be the engine of life for Human Beings. And I will leave it at that. …”

Mexican star journalist's firing sparks outrage

Yahoo – AFP, Guillermo Barros, 16 March 2015

Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui speaks to the press in Mexico City on 

March 16, 2015 a day after being fired (AFP Photo/Ronaldo Schemidt)

Mexico City (AFP) - The firing of one of Mexico's most famous journalists, who revealed the first lady's controversial mansion, sparked outrage Monday among supporters who consider her sacking an attack on press freedom.

Mexicans awoke without the familiar morning voice of broadcaster Carmen Aristegui after MVS Radio fired her late Sunday, following a public feud with her employer over the dismissal of two of her investigative reporters.

The top-rated, 51-year-old journalist became the main trending topic on Twitter in Mexico, with supporters calling on users to unfollow MVS's account.

The house acquired by Mexican First 

Lady Angelica Rivera in Mexico City, 

shown November 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/

Hector Guerrero)

Aristegui, who also works for CNN's Spanish-language channel, showed up Monday in front of MVS's Mexico City headquarters, where she was greeted by a dozen cheering supporters.

Vowing to fight back, she warned that her lawyers said her firing was wrong and a violation of freedom of speech.

Aristegui said her country is "seeing an authoritarian wind and an ominous sign of something that we have to avoid."

"This team of journalists is committed to fighting for freedom of speech," she said, adding that her firing appeared to have been planned well in advance, "with much resources and much power."

Denying it was curbing freedom of speech, MVS said it parted ways with Aristegui because it could not tolerate her "conditions and ultimatums" after she demanded her fired colleagues' reinstatement.

MVS said the two journalists had been fired for using the company's name without permission in their participation in MexicoLeaks, a website created by civic groups and other media outlets to receive leaked documents related to corruption.

Lavish mansion

Aristegui's investigative team revealed last year that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife, former soap opera star Angelica Rivera, had bought a Mexico City mansion from a government contractor.

The story sparked allegations of conflict of interest, which the president denied, adding more headaches to Pena Nieto as he faced protests over the presumed massacre of 43 missing college students.

Aristegui said her two fired colleagues had been investigating Finance Minister Luis Videgaray's purchase of a house from the same government contractor as well as the alleged summary execution of gang suspects by soldiers.

Pena Nieto's spokesman could not be reached for comment about Aristegui's sacking.

Dario Ramirez, director of the media rights group Article 19, said the reasons behind Aristegui's dismissal were suspicious amid an "atmosphere of censorship."

"It was a machiavellian firing," Ramirez told AFP, saying that the move points to "displeasure from the government, with the complicity of a private company."

Angelica Rivera, wife of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, attends a banquet

at the Guildhall in central London on March 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Justin Tallis)

Fans angry

Aristegui's supporters swiftly voiced their discontent on social media, with the hashtag #EndefensadeAristegui2 (#InDefenseOfAristegui2).

"Carmen Aristegui is an essential voice in our public life. Her departure from MVS seriously damages freedom of speech in Mexico," leading historian Enrique Krauze wrote on Twitter.

Renowned political pundit Denise Dresser announced she would no longer appear on MVS, while actor Diego Luna lamented Aristegui's firing.

"What sadness that from tomorrow @AristeguiOline will not have a space in this country that demands plurality and voices that challenge us," Luna tweeted.

Leftist Senator Alejandro Encinas called it a "hard blow for the kind of journalism our country needs."

The radio station's website was briefly hacked on Saturday.

Aristegui had been fired once before by MVS in 2011, when she demanded a government reaction after a lawmaker accused then president Felipe Calderon, without proof, of having a drinking problem.

MVS said she had been fired for violating ethics, but she claimed that the presidency had applied pressure.